In this post, I would like to highlight some of the things that can be found in the Bible that fundamentalists and evangelicals often have no idea about. Pointing these things out to them often sends them into extreme mental gymnastics as they wrestle with the new information that upends their long held assumptions and interpretations So without further ado, here are some interesting things found in the Bible that many Christians don’t seem to know are there.

1. The Bible says that the earth is a flat disc with a dome shaped lid. This one almost always throws inerrancy proponents for a loop because if they acknowledge that Genesis chapter one says that the earth is flat and has a lid then their view of inerrancy has to start unraveling. Alas, for those conservative Christians, the cosmology of the Ancient Near Eastern people who wrote the Bible saw the planet as a flat disc with a dome over it and having multiple layers for different kinds of water. See Genesis 1:6-9.
2. According to the Bible, divine giants came to the earth to have sex with human women. In Genesis 6:1-4 we read that the Nephalim, which were the divine beings, mated with human women and the offspring of those sexual unions were heroic “warriors of renown.” Given the context within which the passage was written, this is hardly surprising. The Ancient Near East was not the only place where one can find deities mating with humans to create a heroic race or person. These Nephalim are also mentioned in Numbers 13:33 and Ezekiel 32:27.
3. The Bible is inconsistent on a lot of things, and incestuous relationships is one of those things. In Leviticus 20:10-21 the writer lists a lot of different sexual sins and chief among them are incestuous sins and condemning bestiality. Some Christians read Leviticus 20:13 as being against being a gay man, but it is actually about incest. That all seems fairly straightforward. Many cultures back in those days practiced incest and the early Israelites wanted to be seen as separate from those cultures. And yet, according to the Israelite origin story starting with Abram and Sarai, we learn that Abram married Sarai and she was his half-sister. When the two of them are in Egypt, Abraham tells the pharaoh, “Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.” – Genesis 20:12. In many ways, Genesis reads a lot like Game of Thrones.
4. Many Christians claim that sex outside the confines of marriage is a sin and has always been a sin. They point to certain Biblical texts to bolster their claims – often from the Apostle Paul, who may have been asexual given his stated views and personal devotion to celibacy, or to the words attributed Jesus about lust or becoming one flesh with one’s spouse. And while it’s true that in the New Testament, there is a great deal of emphasis on chastity, it’s also true that the two main proponents of those views were both celibate and that their social context is vastly different than our own. It’s also true however, that in other texts of the Bible, sex outside of marriage is not condemned and is sometimes even celebrated. Two different widows, Tamar and Ruth, both used their sexuality and sexual prowess in order to survive in a harsh world where widows were on the margins. Tamar pretended to be a prostitute and tricked Judah into having sex with her (Genesis 38). Ruth waited until Boaz was asleep and uncovered his “foot” and shortly thereafter the two got married. When it was mentioned in one of my seminary classes that “foot” was a euphemism for penis in ancient Jewish culture, the passage took on an entirely new context and made much more sense. See Ruth 3.
5. Keeping with the above sexual theme, the Bible also includes erotic poetry about unwed lovers. It’s quite graphic and clearly erotic. The book banners among conservative Christians and groups like Moms for Liberty would be shocked were they to read and understand the Song of Solomon.
6. Fundamentalists and evangelicals believe that Bible clearly teaches that the only two options for the afterlife are eternity in heaven or eternity in hell experiencing torture and separation from God because humans are vile sinners. The problem with that view is that it is incorrect. The Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament, has absolutely no notion or mention of heaven or hell. Instead, they believed that after one died, one went to Sheol. Going to Sheol was not based on merit or belief as with heaven and hell, it’s just the place where the dead go. The New Testament does mention hell (but not necessarily for eternity) but also mentioned are annihilationism, and universal reconciliation with God. In early Christianity, there were for hundreds of years Christians who believed in and taught universal salvation. There are many theologians and scholars now who show where the various views on the afterlife can be found in the Bible and their broader origins outside the Bible. A good place for the curious to start would be the documentary film Hellbound? ,or if books are your preference, Keith Giles’ well received book Jesus Undefeated is written for a lay audience. For an excellent scholarly overview see Alan E. Bernstein’s excellent book, The Formation of Hell or Brad Jersak’s Her Gates Will Never Be Shut.

The Bible is fascinating and gives adherents and scholars a glimpse into the varieties of theological views of its writers from their Ancient Near Eastern social milieu. What it doesn’t do is affirm the draconian, authoritarian, conservative fire and brimstone interpretation of its text. Thank God for that.

Be sure to check out my new book Theological Musings Vol. I when it comes out on August 22, 2023 from Quoir publishing.